Chuggin' along!

Curitiba Travel Blog

Finals are coming up soon - one Friday and one Saturday - though I still have about 18 days left of the trip.

We're in Curitiba right now, been here since Friday (when we left Iguacu) and will leave for Sao Paulo on Sunday.

Went to a club Saturday night, was pretty sweet. Tried to go out last night (Monday), but couldn't find anything, lol.

There is tons of work to be done, its crazy. Tons of reading, blogs to write, classes, site visits, group activities that cannot be missed (such as last night's adventure of "Cup Pong," lol), World Cup games that cannot be missed, going out and doing random things to get to know the city and the people, and then of course going out to clubs and bars at night.

crazy rat things that were everywhere! Ripped holes in Vicky's bag, started goin thru my stuff when I set down my bookbag, little rascals!

How to fit it all in??

So, that said, I'm gonna go work. But first, a bit about Curitiba. I'm really enjoying my time here, a nice hotel with very nice guys who run it. The city is very modern and efficient, with great public transportation (supposedly, I guess it is if you know how to use it or where you want to go), and with well-planned development, though not without its problems. It is very, very different from Floripa (beach town) and Iguacu Falls (tourist town), and most like Buenos Aires, though much less busy and crazy. Curitiba is much more family oriented.

Santiago and Daniela (two Argentine's who study with us, not for grades, but as a cultural component) met us here in Curitiba, as did Felipe, our other professor (Uruguayan).

I really love hanging out with Norberto (an Argentine who has been with us since Buenos Aires) and Santi and Daniela, they are a lot of fun. It is a great challenge switching between english with the students in my group, spanish/english with the 3 argentines, and portuguese with the locals, I love it! :)

I went to the Chilean Consulate here to see about getting my visa (thanks again Dad for getting all that info for me!) but, alas, no luck. They can only give me a student visa if I am Brazilian. I have to go to the Chilean Consulate in Miami to get mine. I am going to email some people to see if I can enter on a tourist Visa and then get my student visa while I'm there. We'll see. But all around, everything's great! Ciao guys! :) Derek

PS - photos are of Iguacu Falls, Brazilian side PPS - by the way, Paraguay was cool - hopped across the border, raining hard the whole time, did some tourist shopping, hopped back over, soaking wet :) PPPS - best memory of Curitiba so far, our professor Felipe playing Flip Cup and Beer Pong with us! lmao! PPPPS - a close second: shotgunning my first beer - got in on video!